Drivers and fitness consequences of dispersive migration in a pelagic seabird.

ABSTRACT: Animals can be flexible in their migration strategies, using several wintering sites or a variety of routes. The mechanisms promoting the development of these migratory patterns and their potential fitness consequences are poorly understood. Here, we address these questions by tracking the dispersive migration of a pelagic seabird, the Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica, using over 100 complete migration tracks collected over 7 years, including repeated tracks of individuals for up to 6 consecutive years. Because puffins have high flight costs, dispersion may generate important variation in costs of migration. We investigate differences in activity budgets and energy expenditure between different strategies. We find that puffins visit a range of overwintering destinations, resulting

SUBMITTER: Fayet AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4943109 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature